# puts debugging

> Finding a bug by sprinkling humble print statements, no fancy debugger required.

**puts debugging** is the time-honored practice of tracking down a bug by scattering `puts` statements through your code to print out values as it runs, then reading the output to see where things went wrong. `puts` is Ruby's plainest way to print a line of text to the screen (it is short for "put string"), so `puts user.name` simply shows you what `user.name` actually is at that moment. It is the low-tech alternative to a full step-through debugger, and it is beloved partly because Ruby's own [Aaron Patterson ("tenderlove")](https://chunkybacon.dev/people/tenderlove.md) (Aaron Patterson, a longtime Ruby and Rails core contributor) has cheerfully championed it. In a 2016 post titled "I am a puts debuggerer," he wrote: "I am a `puts` debuggerer. I don't say this to disparage people that use a Real Debugger. I think Real Debuggers are great, I've just never taken the time to learn one well." If you have ever solved a problem this way and felt a little sheepish, take heart: you are in very good company.

*Related:* [Aaron Patterson ("tenderlove")](https://chunkybacon.dev/people/tenderlove.md)

## Sources
- I am a puts debuggerer (Aaron Patterson, 2016): https://tenderlovemaking.com/2016/02/05/i-am-a-puts-debuggerer/

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Source: https://chunkybacon.dev/glossary/puts-debugging/
License: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)